Of the many blogs written by outside contributors to the Arizona Republic’s website, Bill Richardson’s was perhaps the most critical of the region’s police and their practices.

Now, the retired Mesa police officer says the the state’s largest newspaper has given in to outside pressure from those who wanted his criticism silenced. The newspaper closed down his blog, deleted all his old posts and blocked him from even commenting elsewhere on its website.

“The Republic called me and told me it was being shut down,” Richardson said in an email to Heat City on Tuesday. “They shut down everything and even wiped out my Republic account where I can comment on other people’s blogs or columns.”

Richardson said one of the paper’s opinion editors, Joanna Allhands, called him Monday to tell him the blog was being yanked because of recent posts he had written about the Tempe Police Department.

That decision, Richardson said, came after the department’s police chief, Tom Ryff, and one of his advisers complained about the blog to the Republic.

“The Tempe PD was pissed about my hitting them on crime issues,” Richardson said, pointing to four posts he wrote since the beginning of August, including one in which he said the city “continues to lead the region in violent crime.”

But reached by phone late Tuesday, Allhands flatly denied the move was made because of Richardson’s criticism of Tempe.

“No, that’s not correct,” she said when asked about the allegation. Still, she refused to explain why Richardson’s blog was closed or why his entire archive was deleted from the website.

Allhands called the matter “an internal decision” and referred all other questions to the newspaper’s top editor, Randy Lovely.

Lovely’s assistant, meanwhile, said he was on vacation until next week and would not likely return any phone calls before then.

Click for a larger look at the way Richardson’s blog looked after the Arizona Republic shut it down.

A Tempe police spokesman also denied that the agency had anything to do with the Republic’s decision, saying no one there had even voiced concerns about Richardson’s blog.

“To answer your question, no,” Sgt. Steve Carbajal said. “Nobody from the department, including the chief, has made a complaint to the Republic.”

Carbajal said a journalist with another news organization had called to look into the matter on Monday and that was the first he’d heard about it.

Regardless of why, however, it’s clear that the Republic has taken the unusual step of scrubbing Richardson’s work from its website without any public explanation.

Richardson, who also occasionally wrote for the newspaper’s op-ed page, said he was invited by the Republic to start blogging last year.

Since then he has written dozens of posts, many of them focusing on issues in law enforcement as well as in Tempe (that’s where he lives.) He was often critical of police policies, but he sometimes wrote positive stories about local law enforcement, too.

Now, visitors to his former home on the web are greeted with a simple message: “The blog requested does not exist.”

Except that’s not entirely true either; Google cached most of Richardson’s posts from the time he started writing the blog. They are, at least for now, available to anyone who wants to read them.

Heat City was hoping to get its hands on a nice, colorful police report about the attack on a Phoenix television news crew earlier this week. But we found out Friday it’s not going to happen.

It turns out the KPHO (Channel 5) crew never pressed charges against the man who threw some large rocks at them Wednesday while they were on assignment in Casa Grande.

Tim Gaffney, a spokesman for the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, said he reached out to the station after watching video of the attack, which showed reporter Pat McReynolds dodging the stones. (Neither McReynolds nor his videographer were hit.)

“I actually called Channel 5 and asked if he wanted to prosecute,” Gaffney said on Friday. “They told me no.”

The rock thrower, whose name has not been released, was never arrested, Gaffney said.

A story posted on KPHO’s own website appeared to have said something different on Thursday. The story said the news crew was accusing the man of assault, which would be a serious criminal charge.

But Gaffney double-checked and confirmed, again, that no arrest had been made.

Heat City left a message for Michelle Donaldson, the news director at KPHO, but have yet to hear back from her.

File it under the dangers of being a journalist. In this must-watch video, Phoenix television news reporter Pat McReynolds and a videographer dodge rocks being thrown at them by a man they were hoping to interview.

Here’s how their station, KPHO (Channel 5), said it went down:

When a CBS 5 News crew went to the Torres house in Casa Grande to get his family’s side of the story, the brother of Frank Torres greeted them with a litany of profanity before they ever got to the yard.

He refused to answer questions. When the reporter and videographer didn’t leave as quickly as he wanted, he picked up several large rocks and hurled them at the news crew, they said.

The headline on the KPHO story said the “CBS 5 news crew accuses Casa Grande man of assault,” but the man was never arrested.

UPDATE (Aug. 27, 2010): Our original version, based on the story on KPHO’s website, said the rock-thrower had been arrested. We found out Friday he hadn’t. This story has been updated to reflect that.

Turns out the editors over at Phoenix magazine named me the best blogger in the Valley for my work here on Heat City. Here’s what they wrote in their annual Best of the Valley issue:

Favoritism, shmavoritism – the Valley’s best blogger is PHOENIX magazine contributor Nick R. Martin, whose independently-produced Heat City news blog (heatcity.org) is a true marvel of D-I-Y journalism. Competing against entire newsrooms at The Arizona Republic and other newspapers, Martin took first place in breaking news at the most recent Arizona Press Club Awards for getting the scoop on a series of arrests related to the 2004 bombing of the Scottsdale diversity office. And he essentially performed this service for free, since Heat City is funded by public donations.

I was surprised and honored. The issue landed in subscriber mailboxes this week, making perfect timing for my transition back to freelancing and writing on Heat City. Hopefully the work here will continue to live up to the title.

You can see a handful of Phoenix’s other picks on its website. But the whole September issue is worth buying on newsstands when it comes out. It features enough to do in the Phoenix area to keep you entertained for months.

Oh, and for full disclosure: I have contributed a number of stories to Phoenix magazine in the past two years. However, I wasn’t part of the editorial process for this issue. And I am not being paid to write this post.

We parted ways amicably last week, about a month and a half into my tenure there. In that time, I wrote a few good stories, offered some ideas on technology/social media and got to work with some seriously talented journalists.

While I won’t bore anyone with the details of my departure, I will say that I have great respect for the Guardian and the big impact it has had on Arizona politics given its newcomer status. I wish everyone there the best of luck moving forward.

For now, I intend to return to freelancing and exploring other journalistic opportunities. You may have noticed I also came back to Heat City today with a story about Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s massive campaign spending. You can expect to see more stories here in the immediate future.

Finally, and this really can’t be said often enough: Thank you to all my readers and fans for your constant and continued support. You make the work worth doing.

As always, email me at nick@heatcity.org with comments or story ideas.

Starting this week, my work will be appearing regularly on the political news site, the Arizona Guardian. The specifics are still being worked out, but the broad outline was hatched over the long Fourth of July weekend. I’ll be covering a number of political races as well as helping the Guardian grow as a company. This is a great opportunity to work with a fledgling company that has a bright future.

Yes, the Guardian is a paid-subscription site, which means you’ll have to pony up some cash to read it. You may remember I wrote a fairly in-depth profile about the company last year in Phoenix magazine. At the time, I said it was too expensive for most people, but the company’s target readers — lobbyists, lawyers and politicians — were often willing to pay the price because it gives them the kind of news they need for success.

That model has worked for the Guardian so far. Now, the founders are hoping to build on that accomplishment. They are open to new ideas and experiments, and that’s where I’ll be playing a role. What does that mean specifically? I’ll let you know once we figure it out.

Heat City will still be here. This site will remain a place for me to write stories that don’t have a home anywhere else. The only difference now is that my political (and sometimes legal) stories will be appearing in the Arizona Guardian.

As a special offer for readers of Heat City, the Guardian is also offering a 60 percent discount to new subscribers. This means individual readers can get access for just $12 a month (down from $30) and businesses, such as law firms, news organizations and creative agencies, can give all their employees access for just $60 a month (down from $150). When you sign up, simply enter the coupon code heatcity for your discount.

Finally, if you’ve been one of the generous people who has financially supported Heat City over the past year and a half, we are planning something special for you. Look for it in your email box over the next week.

Heat City won first place for breaking news in the Best in Arizona category for a series of exclusive stories about the arrests of two white supremacists suspected in the 2004 bombing of Scottsdale’s diversity office. Thanks to a source’s tip last June, I was able to break news of the arrests hours before any of the major local newspapers or wire services could catch up. Then I came back with two more stories about the fallout. (See links to stories below.)

I also won first place for public safety reporting in the Metro writing category for my exclusive look at the investigation of a man police believe was the third killer in Phoenix’s Serial Shooter case. The story was published last September in Phoenix Magazine.

Finally, Heat City won second-place for public safety reporting in the Non-Metro writing category for a story that looked at the police investigation into Gilbert’s then-Mayor Steve Berman, who was suspected of poisoning his wife. Details of the investigation came to light just days before the town’s election, which he subsequently lost.

The work on Heat City, of course, is supported by its readers. Those of you who have given to the website deserve another round of thanks for supporting independent journalism. These stories were possible because of you.

The new publisher of the East Valley Tribune, Randy Miller, is expected to announce any day now that the Mesa newspaper, which was on the brink of closure just six months ago, is profitable again.

At a Wednesday staff meeting, Miller told his employees the good news and promised to talk to any outside journalist who wishes to interview him about the success. Any journalist, that is, except for yours truly.

According to multiple sources inside the newspaper, Miller told staffers he has blacklisted me from any interviews, presumably because he doesn’t like my coverage of the Tribune’s financial woes before he bought it or my stories about the massive cuts he made when taking over.

Heat City, after all, was the first to break news that the Tribune’s former publisher Julie Moreno, as well as numerous other Freedom Communications executives, pocketed huge financial bonuses leading up to the company’s bankruptcy. The site later reported extensively on the massive cuts Miller made when he bought the place. And Heat City also pointed out that Miller was telling readers the newspaper was now “locally owned,” when in reality it is held by a company in Reno, Nevada.

That Miller is lousy on transparency issues is on par with past publishers of the Tribune. One such publisher, Karen Wittmer, was famously given the Brick Wall Award by the Arizona Press Club in 1999. The reason? While serving as head of the newspaper, Wittmer also sat on a government board that voted to ban journalists – including her own newspaper – from attending its meetings. Those meetings, by law, were supposed to be open to the public. (The board later reversed its decision after being threatened with lawsuits.)

Wittmer is long gone from the Tribune, but the new publisher is apparently doling out a news ban of his own. I left Miller a message seeking comment on Thursday, but, of course, he did not call back.

It’s unusual for anyone in a high-profile position, be it government or otherwise, to institute a standing ban on a particular journalist. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, for whom the Brick Wall Award has since been renamed, is one of the few known locally to have a similar media blacklist.

Miller, according to several sources, is planning to attend this year’s Arizona Press Club banquet, being held Saturday at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in downtown Phoenix. While it’s too late to nominate someone for this year’s Brick Wall Award, Heat City would like to make an early nomination for 2011: a dishonorable mention for Randy Miller.

[Full disclosure: I am a former staff journalist of the East Valley Tribune.]

The news director of KPNX (Channel 12) in Phoenix, Casey told viewers Friday that his staff has become the target of threats during the past two weeks as the debate over immigration moved to the forefront with the signing of the state’s new immigration law.

“Yes, we have received threats of violence against us and against individuals on all sides of the issue,” Casey wrote in a letter posted on the station’s website.

Though he didn’t specify the nature of the threats or whom they targeted, Casey said the tone of the reaction had become “uncomfortable and off-putting” and that striking a balance in covering the issue “has been quite difficult because of the intensity of this debate.”

The letter itself was extraordinary. TV stations are rarely forced to defend their coverage or appeal to viewers for calm. But then again, rarely does the volume of criticism get so loud.

“In your letters and e-mails, many of you have judged us to be unpatriotic or ‘part of the ‘Open Borders’ crowd,’” Casey wrote. “Others have said we haven’t been ‘tough enough’ in challenging the state and national political leadership who support the new law. Still more of you have judged us to be ’shallow’ and to have ‘oversimplified’ a complicated issue.”

As part of a longer explanation he added: “We are committed to doing our best.”

The viewer comments written beneath Casey’s plea bear him out. Here’s one, for example, asking why readers have not been allowed to comment beneath another story posted elsewhere on the website. The site’s administrator appears to have censored certain words already:

THEN WHY THE (inappropriate term) WON’T YOU ALLOW COMMENTS ON THE DEPUTY THAT WAS SHOT BY THE ILLEGAL F*CKN IMMIGRANT PIECE OF FECES FROM THAT RATHOLE MEXICO, YOU F*KN PIECE OF UNAMERICAN (inappropriate term)!

And that’s not the only one to question Casey’s patriotism or motives:

How much does the Chamber of Commerce pay for this pro-illegal immigrant coverage anyway?

You people are worst than Goldman Sachs…..anything for money….even if it ruins the country.

For anyone who has worked in a newsroom and covered the immigration debate in recent years, the tone is familiar.

Back in 2008, activists on both sides of the issue, as well as several local police agencies, said they were worried that violence could break out after Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio began to launch immigration sweeps in heavily Hispanic parts of the Phoenix area. It was enough, even, for the East Valley Tribune to publish a story headlined, “Why so angry about illegal immigration?”

The chaos of that period eventually calmed, even though Arpaio’s sweeps continued. But as Casey’s letter shows, it is back in full and this time, it may be even uglier.

Publisher Randy Miller wrote the line in a front-page message printed just a day after he finally closed a deal to buy the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper from media giant Freedom Communications.

Problem is, Miller isn’t local. He’s from Colorado. And the company he partnered with to buy the Tribune, 1013 Communications, is headquartered in Reno, Nev.

So what, exactly, was Miller talking about?

Heat City left a message for him today, hoping to give the proud new owner a chance to explain. But just like the other messages left for him over the past five months, this one went unreturned.

Doing the math, Miller’s purchase actually moves ownership of the newspaper further away. The former owners were headquartered in Irvine, Calif. – about 375 miles from the Mesa newspaper.

Reno, on the other hand, is a 750-mile drive.

Update (March 25): Former Tribune dining critic Jess Harter, who was among those cut from the newspaper in the most recent downsizing, says Randy Miller is probably living in the area temporarily as he gets things situated with his new businesses. But if that’s what Miller is calling “locally owned,” it sounds like it won’t last.

Harter said he asked Miller about his plans late last year. “I asked him if he intended to move to AZ to oversee operations of the Tribune,” Harter wrote in an email to Heat City. “He said he’d probably rent a house here for a few months while he took a hands-on approach to the transition, but that he’d never live anywhere but Boulder, Colo., because he loved that city so much.”

[Full disclosure: I am a former staff reporter at the Tribune.]